This morning are the auditions for the Montreal job – and I’m not there. I haven’t blogged in a while. A lot has gone on in the past three-four weeks. I’m on the final days of my tuba staycation and it’s been quite the adventure. Continue reading →

Ever since seeing the announcement for the Montreal Symphony, I’ve been on practicing overdrive. I’m up earlier in the mornings to get some tuba time in. Not necessarily every morning but lots of them. I’ve got the rep list for Montreal in a tab on my desktop browser and on my iPhone to check the bars I need to prepare. I’m swapping days between the Eb and the C. There’s A LOT of rep to work on, including a Bach flute solo transcribed for tuba and the slow movement of the Vaughan Williams. And orchestral stuff I’ve never touched before. And some I’ve not heard before. Continue reading →

I’ve been pretty quiet online here lately but my life has been nothing but in the past few months.

In mid-March, my mother was diagnosed with 4th-stage cancer. They discovered this when discovering she had blood clots causing her right arm and hand to go blue (which was causing pain too). On Friday, June 1st, at 10:17am, she lost her battle against the cancer.

I’ve had lots of time to think lately with drives to and from Ottawa. I discovered that Mom had been my spiritual guide when I was a child and this shaped a lot of who I am today (I discovered Dad was a much larger influence that I realized too). She taught me right from wrong and love from hate. I will miss her with every part of my heart, mind and soul.

When it happens, I will dedicate my first orchestral performance of the Vaughan Williams to her.

Well, I did it! My first music job application! Today was the deadline for the Canadian Armed Forces full-time bands. I sent a cover letter, resume and CD overnight-mail yesterday. I’m really happy with the package – I’m hoping they like the recordings. Honestly, I wish the orch excerpts and Air and Bourree had better acoustics. I’m really happy with the RVW first-movement recording though. It’s not without a few flubs, but there’s a lot of great material there. I had another listen to the Air and Bourree though and I’m not happy with the tuning and the close mic. Yikes – I hope they forgive that. I’m going to re-record it this fall along with the full RVW. Here are two things that went out:

RVW concerto, 1st mvt – with Melissa Stephens, piano (recorded by Mark Tomlinson at Zion United Church in Carnarvon, ON)

What do you think? I welcome all critiques.

I hope they see that beyond my tuba playing, which is at least ‘competent’, they’ll see my dedication (via work on this blog), my conducting and my coaching aspirations and account for this in the whole package.

And even if this doesn’t work out – then at least I threw my name in. This is good for me to grow as a musician going pro: put myself through the paces of recording and auditions.

This has been an intense week, to put lightly. First, the Domaine Forget application deadline was this Thursday. As usual, I went into panic mode to fill in the application. I needed to do two recordings — at one with piano. Ian Pay, a bassist living in Haliburton County, has a home recording studio so I gave him a call. I recorded a few orchestral excerpts with him. Thank goodness for having him around locally. I panicked next for an accompanist. It’s March Break. Many pianists are teachers. Some were not available because they were on break. Some were just too busy. Lucky for me, again, Melissa Stephens, a local pianist, was available for a tiny window that worked for me too. So we headed again to Ian’s studio. Phew! Recordings completed and uploaded. Plus Sasha was able to write a letter if recommendation for me too. So I got the application in and on time. Now I wait.

On Wednesday too, I finally got The Breathing Gym in the mail. It had been in back order since November! I had remembered bits and pieces over the years so it’s great to have the book to fill in the blanks. But bonus is that it gives the musical goals behind each exercise. A bit of an expensive book but it’s paper gold!

In the meantime, Orchestra Toronto was having special sectionals yesterday. Versatile artist, Guy Few, coached us. He was fantastic – great attitude, great ear for tuning, and some great tips and tricks too. I also enjoyed his take on interpretation of the pieces we’re: Ravel’s La Valse and Holst’s Mars and Jupiter. He was very engaging and the FULL brass section was very responsive. And hearing us in full forces was amazing: 6 horns, 4 trumpets, 3 trombones, 1 euph and me. Oh yeah, baby!!

Thursday wasn’t all good for me though. I found out on Tuesday that my mom was in the hospital for a blot clot. It seemed simple enough until I got to speak with her in Thursday and she told me through tears that she has cancer. I started to cry too. It was a very emotional phone call. I didn’t know what to do and the rest of my day at work was quiet for me. I considered missing practice and driving right home, but I knew that playing would be therapeutic for me. I sat quietly in the car, in the underground parking, and cried. I had it pent up for a while. Driving to the practice helped me clear my mind and put my heart at ease a little. Though I still felt guilty as we started the sectional. Something so exciting for me mixed in with feelings for my mom.

This Sunday, my partner and I drive to Ottawa to spend time with my parents. I don’t know what else to write about that right now. I’m just looking forward to seeing her and hugging her and telling her how much I love her.

I’m just dying to say “hey guys, you’re out of tune!” “you’re not breathing together” “you should play louder there” “that note should be more accented” “you should bring that out more because it’s practically a solo” “you should do a lot more buzzing for your warm ups” — and other know-it-all comments. Continue reading →